You might not expect much overlap between mellow, meticulous stitchers and booty-shaking funk fans, but proof of their community goes on display this weekend: darkly gleaming quilts that honor His Late, Great Purpleness.
This year’s 44th annual Quiltfest Northwest, an extravaganza of quilting and fiber arts, is so awesomely up-to-date, it even includes dozens of handmade purple quilts honoring Prince, the distinctly hued funk-rock star who died too young, in 2016. The Cherrywood Challenge was issued by Cherrywood Hand-Dyed Fabrics, based in Prince’s native Minnesota. Hundreds of purple submissions were received, and 165 finalists were ultimately chosen and split into three different touring shows.
Camas quilter Dianne Kane said she and two other local quilters took up the challenge — purchasing the mandatory purple fabric sold by Cherrywood at a steep markup — but none made the cut. Since they’re right here in Clark County, though, they decided to display their Prince quilts anyway. Kane and her fellow good sports will show their Prince quilts in a “Losers Lane” at Quiltfest, she said cheerfully.
Prince quilts are only the sexy edge of a whole weekend of quilt and fabric festivities in Clark County. Quiltfest Northwest starts today and runs through Saturday, swamping the Clark County Event Center at the Fairgrounds with opportunities for viewing, shopping, instruction and conversation. The featured quilter is Mathew Boudreaux of Camas, a maker of colorful, energetic quilts who bills himself and his online business as “Mister Domestic.” He’ll teach classes today and Saturday.
If You Go
What: Quiltfest Northwest, 44th regional quilt and fiber arts show.
When: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. March 28; 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. March 29-30.
Where:Clark County Event Center, 17402 N.E. Delfel Road, Ridgefield.
Cost: $7 per day or $12 for an all-days pass. Children under 12 free.
Parking: $6 per vehicle per day, cash only.
More information:https://quiltfestnw.org/
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What: North Clark Historical Museum’s 14th annual Quilt Show.
When: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. March 30; noon to 4 p.m. March 31.
Where: 21416 N.E. 399th St., Amboy.
Cost: Free. Donations gratefully accepted. The museum is handicapped-accessible.
If you just want to look, there’s so much to see. Don’t miss Vancouver’s own unique contribution to historical storytelling in stitchery, the Fort Vancouver Tapestry. That’s a 108-foot-long piece made of 70 linen panels that relate the history of this area, from leaping salmon and Chinook villages all the way up through today’s Vancouver Farmers Market and the clock tower in Esther Short Park.
More magical-stitchery storytelling will be on display in a showcase of 90 small folk- and fairy-tale quilts from Japan, France and the USA. And, there’ll be a rare Hawaiian quilting showcase with members of the local Ke Kukui community, who will talk about techniques that have been considered too precious to share until recent times.
Show in Amboy
Local quilting boosters didn’t design this weekend to be quilt heaven in Clark County, they say — it just turned out that way. In addition to the massive Quiltfest at the Event Center, consider venturing up to the tippy-top of Clark County on Saturday or Sunday to check out the 14th annual quilt show at the North Clark Historical Museum, in Amboy.
“That would be nice,” said organizer Judy Malinowski. “We’re really way out here, but you can make a day of it. We serve tea. Get your best friend and come look at quilts and presentations.” Enjoy the beautiful scenery as you go, too.
The museum’s two levels will showcase radically different approaches to quilting, Malinowski said. Downstairs, the Chelatchie Quilters will show their work and tell the tale of learning to use modern machines to crank out quantities of quilts for charity auctions benefiting veterans, children and the North Clark Historical Museum itself. Fifteen quilts they made for the Children’s Home Society will be on display, and so will their “Cabin in the Woods” quilt, with raffle tickets available.
“They’re a very social group and they’re very determined to get things done,” Malinowski said.
Upstairs, featured quilter Mavis Kent will indulge the exact opposite: slow, solo, meditative quilting by hand. Kent, a multiple first-place winner in Clark County Fair quilt contests, will demonstrate her own original hand-quilting techniques from noon to 2 p.m. Saturday, and her crazy quilting techniques from noon to 2 p.m. Sunday.
Kent developed her own solo techniques after trying and rejecting machine quilting, she said. “You just load your quilt up and load your pattern onto a long arm quilter and it quilts for you,” she said. “I really didn’t like that at all. I think of quilting as an American art form. I like the old things people used to do.” She remembered a few quilting pointers from her mother, she said, but mostly has developed her own techniques “because there was nobody to turn to. There are not many left who do hand quilting only.”
Kent may love meditating and “thinking deep thoughts” while quilting slowly by hand — but sometimes she cheats by keeping an eye on TV too, she laughed.
In her professional life, Kent has worked as a geologist for construction firms and state environmental agencies in California and Oregon. Now a private contractor, she’s currently working on an investigation of environmental impacts of a razed aluminum smelter near Goldendale, she said.
Is geological investigation anything like making quilts? Sort of, Kent said. “A lot of geologic work in my career has been … observation, intuition, analysis. It’s a similar thing in quilting — you’re envisioning and analyzing, you’re sorting out and putting together, you’re reading how layers are constructed and figuring out how to do the same thing.”
